Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy

Revised: September 1, 2016

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In order to receive federal, state or institutional financial aid, students must demonstrate satisfactory academic progress toward the attainment of a degree. At HCCC, the satisfactory academic progress is determined annually.

These standards have been developed in accordance with regulations that govern financial aid programs.

There are three distinct dimensions to the satisfactory academic progress standards: complete the degree requirements within an established timeframe, maintaining the minimum required Financial Aid grade point average (GPA), and attaining a completion rate.

The federal regulations require that students must meet or exceed SAP standards in order to be eligible for financial aid. The standards apply to all financial aid applicants and to all college coursework taken, including coursework taken from outside colleges.

If you failed to meet one of the following requirements, you will not be eligible for financial aid:

Qualitative Measure (Financial Aid GPA). You must maintain a Minimum Cumulative Financial Aid GPA of 2.0 to maintain financial aid assistance eligibility. For the purpose of determining financial aid Satisfactory Academic Progress, a financial aid GPA will be calculated – ESL and Academic Foundation grade points/credit hour will be included in the financial aid GPA calculation.

Grades for Academic Foundations and ESL Courses for the purpose of determining financial aid Satisfactory Academic Progress. Students enrolled in Academic Foundations (AF) and ESL courses will be evaluated according to the following grading system:

Grade

Interpretation

Grade Points/Credit Hour

E

Exit

4.0

P

Pass

2.5

R

Repeat

0.0

F

Fail

0.0

The following grid applies to all students, including those enrolled in Academic Foundation courses and English as a Second Language courses:

GPA Status Table

Credits Attempted

0 – 14 credits

No minimum

15 or more credits

2.0

Quantitative Measure (Pace). Students must successfully complete 66.67% of hours attempted to maintain financial assistance eligibility. Both Completed and Attempted credits include all Remedial, ESL, and college level credits. Grades Failing (F), Withdraw (W), I, R and NP will be counted as credits attempted. Transfer credits hours will be counted as both attempted and completed hours. The following grid applies to all students, including those enrolled in Academic Foundation courses and English as a Second Language courses:

Example:
Student is enrolled in the Business Administration program which as 65 required credits to graduate. If this student has attempted 35 credits, and successfully completed 28, his/her pace of Progression is 80%.

Students
must successfully complete their coursework within 150% of the credit hours needed for their current degree to maintain financial assistance eligibility. For example, if a student's degree requires 66 credits, they must complete their program within 99 credits. Once a student has attempted more than 99 credits, they are no longer eligible for financial aid.

SAP APPEAL PROCEDURE

At
HCCC, the satisfactory academic progress is determined annually. Students identified as not making progress toward the degree will receive correspondence at their E-mail address at the end of Spring Semester or Summer Session 1, if student attends. Students have the right to appeal. The circumstances under which a student would be permitted to submit an appeal would be death of a relative, injury or illness of the student, or other special circumstances and student must provide supporting documentation. A student will be required to submit as part of the appeal, information regarding why the student failed to make SAP, and what has changed in the student's situation that would allow the student to demonstrate satisfactory academic progress at the next evaluation.

SAP APPEAL REVIEW AND VERIFICATION

Each appeal is reviewed on a case by case basis. Submission of an Appeal does not guarantee reinstatement of eligibility for financial aid. In evaluating the merits of the Appeal, HCCC will review the student’s explanation of his/her special circumstances and verify if the explanation is consistent with the past academic records and performance. To ensure students are eligible, HCCC will identify and resolve conflicting information submitted in the Appeal prior to disbursement of Title IV program funds.

FINANCIAL AID PROBATION

If the appeal is approved, the student will be placed on Financial Aid Probation. A student on Financial Aid Probation may only receive Title IV funds for ONE payment period. A student on Financial Aid Probation may not receive Title IV funds for the subsequent payment period UNLESS: Student is now making SAP or Student met requirements specified in the academic plan.

Student must meet with an academic counselor to complete an academic plan. The academic plan will be for the time period required for the student to achieve academic progress. Satisfactory Academic Progress will be reviewed each semester for students on Financial Aid Probation.

If a student on Financial Aid Probation is determined to be making Satisfactory Academic Progress, they will no longer be on Financial Aid Probation.

If a student on Financial Aid Probation is not making Satisfactory Academic Progress at the conclusion of a semester but has met the terms of their plan, they will continue on Financial Aid Probation.

If a student on Financial Aid Probation is not making Satisfactory Academic Progress at the conclusion of a semester and has not met the terms of their plan, they will not be eligible for financial aid until they are making
Satisfactory Academic Progress.

Note:
Student are allowed to appeal their unsatisfactory academic progress standard twice. For the second SAP appeal, student may not make subsequent appeals for the same reason as the previous appeal.

NON-REQUIRED COURSES

Courses that are not required in the student’s academic program are not eligible for federal financial aid. Required Prerequisite Coursework: If you are required to complete prerequisite or preparatory courses for admission into a program, those coursework are not eligible for federal Pell grant.

REMEDIAL CREDIT LIMITATION

The maximum number of remedial credits attempted for which aid may be received is 30 credits. Once you attempt more than 30 remedial credits, aid will only be paid for college level credits (100 level and above).

This may result in the reduction on enrollment status for purposes of awarding federal aid. English as a Second Language (ESL) courses do not count against this limit.

REPEATED COURSEWORK

Students may no longer receive federal student aid for a previously passed course more than once. For instance, if a student has both passed a course with a “D” grade and failed that same course with an “F” grade, he or she cannot receive federal student aid to pay for that course again.

MAXIMUM NUMBER OF SEMESTERS OF PELL GRANT AWARDS

Student may receive a maximum of 12 full-time semesters of Pell Grant awards, and it will retroactively impact students who currently receive Pell and have exceeded 12 semesters. For students who are less-than full-time, the cap is applied proportionally to their enrollment.